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Old 01-29-2013, 02:27 PM   #1
butterfly
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Where do you keep what you write?
On your hard drive? Printed out in a writerly-decorated binder? Stuffed in an old FEDEX box in the closet?

For now mine are in individual folders but I need something a bit more creative.
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Old 01-29-2013, 02:36 PM   #2
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"My Documents"
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Old 01-29-2013, 02:38 PM   #3
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In a writing folder and sub-folders on my computer. And backed up to an external drive and to an Internet backup website.
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Old 01-29-2013, 02:50 PM   #4
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*watches thread*

I have copies on my harddrive, a thumb drive, a secondary harddrive and that's it, which I know is not safe as any and all of those can fail at any time (I've already had a harddrive failure and a thumb drive failure). I'd love to find a nice internet backup place that's not dropbox (which I just have this, perhaps irrational, fear of using).
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Old 01-29-2013, 02:54 PM   #5
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I have copies on my harddrive, a thumb drive, a secondary harddrive and that's it, which I know is not safe as any and all of those can fail at any time (I've already had a harddrive failure and a thumb drive failure). I'd love to find a nice internet backup place that's not dropbox (which I just have this, perhaps irrational, fear of using).
You could use the free version of Mozy if you just want to back-up document files (and not photos or videos). They give you 2 GB free (of course, with the hope that you will eventually need more); 2 GB is a lot of Word files. I've used Mozy and it works well.
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Old 01-29-2013, 02:55 PM   #6
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The D drive on the computer is where all the active files are stored, the external hard drives, cloud storage and various other places are for semi-killed projects, while the print-outs are confined to the ancient and rather creaking things which may or may not be picked up again. I try to remember to save everything in a few places, but I am terrible at remembering where I saved the latest version of anything...

Oh, and I think Google Drive has 5GB free, straight off. Need to check it out to be sure though
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Old 01-29-2013, 03:01 PM   #7
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I save my writing:
  • every time on my hard drive
  • occasionally on a secondary hard drive
  • just as occasionally on a flash drive
  • once in a blue moon by printing out (though I do that more because I want to read paper instead of a computer screen, rather than viewing it as a form of backing up).
I should probably be taking more precautions. However, I have a history of being careless about backing up, so that's a big improvement for me!
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Old 01-29-2013, 03:11 PM   #8
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I've had a hard drive fail (twice! Once with smoke...) but living with an IT guru has its perks.

I save to a writing folder (Subdivided into crits, released books, current projects, ideas etc)

I also back up to sugar synch (a cloud backup like dropbox) which lets me move projects to my laptop etc without worrying that things will get lost.

I also email important projects to myself every now and again, especially a final version

I should probably use a thumb drive too, but Son keeps 'borrowing' it....
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Old 01-29-2013, 03:13 PM   #9
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Hard drive, thumb drive, and too infrequently I back up to an external hard drive.
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Old 01-29-2013, 03:36 PM   #10
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USB pen and dropbox.
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Old 01-29-2013, 04:06 PM   #11
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A writing folder in Documents, three memory sticks, and occasionally I update on an external hard drive (which reminds me, I must do that again soon).
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Old 01-29-2013, 04:30 PM   #12
KimJo
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I use Dropbox. I initially tried to save to both my hard drive and Dropbox, but I kept forgetting to do one or the other and lost two manuscripts because of it, so now I just save to Dropbox. I tend to kill computers after a year or two (seriously, the laptop I'm using right now is my fourth computer in as many years, though two of the ones I've gone through in that time were hand-me-downs from hubby), so for me it makes more sense to just use some form of cloud storage.

All of my books that have been published, or at least submitted, are also in folders in my web-based email accounts, so if Dropbox fails, I can access those that way. (I just wouldn't have access to my works in progress.)
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Old 01-29-2013, 04:44 PM   #13
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2 hard drives usb stick, sometimes in print.
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Old 01-29-2013, 04:50 PM   #14
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Hard drive and Mozy
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Old 01-29-2013, 05:01 PM   #15
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Just dropbox. If my computer dies, I know the files are all safe. It's also great that I can access them from my ipad.
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Old 01-29-2013, 05:03 PM   #16
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Thumb drive and Dropbox
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Old 01-29-2013, 05:18 PM   #17
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Always stored on my 4gb flash drive, dedicated to writing. Every two weeks I back up to my computer. Every month I back up to my external hard drive.
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Old 01-29-2013, 05:26 PM   #18
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"My Docs", and periodically I email projects to myself. So far I haven't lost much; mostly problems arise for me from my tendency to create file names like "Project 1". Sorting through 20 "Project 1"s is ever so much fun 3 years later
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Old 01-29-2013, 05:28 PM   #19
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My laptop, my husband's server, and Dropbox.

I don't keep hardcopies anymore, and I'm a frothy-mouthed fanatic about everyone keeping at least two backups, one of which is not located in your house.
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Old 01-29-2013, 05:39 PM   #20
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-- C Drive (My Documents subfolder)
-- Daily Dropbox backups
-- Daily G-Mail backups

Backup everything.
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Old 01-29-2013, 06:43 PM   #21
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Everything is backed up to Carbonite. Anything I'm working on currently is also in my Dropbox.
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Old 01-29-2013, 06:48 PM   #22
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On my hard drive. Each novel project gets its own folder in My Documents. Then it's moved into the Completed Projects folder when it's finally done.
Backed up onto a USB stick, which I then carry around with me everywhere when I leave the house.
Current work backed up onto Google Drive. And I keep all previous versions of novel drafts as I work on them, so I can always get back to something from a couple of days back.
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Old 01-29-2013, 07:26 PM   #23
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My Documents, 2 usb drives, and Microsoft Skydrive. I had a laptop die recently and I had forgotten to do a backup right after finishing the last chapter of a book, so now I'm paranoid.
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Old 01-29-2013, 07:35 PM   #24
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I keep the absolute most recent version on both my hard drive and a thumb drive. I'm pretty anal about keeping them both up-to-date. I also occasionally email myself the file.

That way, I know for sure that a recent version is out there in the interweb ether, even if it isn't the most recent version. I also know that the most recent version is in the pocket of my purse in case I want to revise and in case there's a fire at the apartment that destroys my computer.
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Old 01-29-2013, 08:18 PM   #25
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Hard drive and I e-mail them to myself. Should my hard drive fail (knock on wood!), I know that the file exists in two separate e-mail accounts.
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